Cu concs supply needs watching as Chinese smelting boom continues

摘要

The smelting capacity boom in China is set to continue and production capacity will increase to a rate of 3.75 million tpy by the end of 2007, though how the new smelters will source concentrate feeds is open to question, Zhou Feng, a senior economist at Minmetals, told delegates at the conference. He said that 18 copper smelting projects are either under construction or being planned and that eleven projects already under construction will have a total capacity of 1.15 million tpy. China will increase its copper output by 10 percent per year over the next five years, he forecast.